Improvement in apparatus for skimming



Patented Oct. 9, 1860.

ases N. PETHE. Fhmwblhngnphur. Wuhm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TITUS MOLINIER, OF NEV ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR SKIMMING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 30,339, dated October 9, 1860.

To 60% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, TIrUs MoLINrER, of the city of New Orleans, parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana, have invented a Crank Skimming-Machine; and I hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in removing, in an easy, prompt, and efficacious manner, the skims which are formed at the surface of a boiling liquid.

To enable others skilled in the art to use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

My crank skimming-machine is composed of three essential partsfirst, a frame A, (on plates;) second, a pushing and drawing screw,

B; and, third, a movable basin, 0, attached to one end of a box, D, in which box work paddles a a a, fastened together by two iron endless chains, said paddles being set in motion by means of two drums, I) b, and a crank, c. On the interior of frame A are attached two sliding bars, E E, on which box D slides when placed into frame A. The pushing and drawing screw B has nothing particular in its construction. On the box D are placed two drums, b 2), around which, and by means of crank c, paddles a a a are set in motion from left to right, scraping, as they pass, the interior,bottom, and sides of the box D, and on said bottom is managed an aperture or trough, F, to discharge the skims. The part of basin C which is attached to the end of box I) has a cylindrical form, which form is determined by the circles described by paddles a a a, as they pass around the drums b b. The basin 0 may have any shape-round, oval, or rectangular; but its borders, nearly fiat or slightly rounded, must be so constructed as to make the line passing by their extreme top on asame plan. The basin'C must be set in such a manner that the skim which will enter in it be unavoidably carried on its converging slanting sides, to the bottom of said basin at the place where the paddles a a a touch it in their movement of rotation.

, I describe as follows the operation of my crank skimming machine, applied to the skimming of cane-j nice in the manufacture of to said beam by hooks K K. The box D being i set in frame A on sliding bars E E, the pushing and drawing screw B being fastened through the upper back of frame A to box D, the four cleats c e e e on the sides of frame A being turned on bars f f, fixed to exterior of box D,

the three parts of the crank skimming-machine will be then fastened to each other. By means of the supports (Z d the inclination to be given to frame A and box D must make the borders of basin G011 a perfect horizontal plane and 011 a parallel with the cane-juice contained in the kettle. This being done, if, by means of the pushing and drawing screw B, the box D is lowered, the basin 0 willfirst touch the liquid, sink gradually into the kettle, its borders keeping the parallelism with the cane-juice. If lowered so as to offer to the penetration of the liquid around the borders into the basin but a very feeble obstacle, the skims formed at the surface of the canejuice will naturally fall to the bottom of said basin, the first skims falling drawing with them the others, (as shown by small pink arrows 011 Plate 11,) this owing to the mucilaginous matters contained in cane-juice. If this should not be the ease, by means of a paddle properly made, those skims may be pushed slightly and thrown into the basin. If, then, the crank c is turned, the paddle a a a a will carry up the skims, throwing them through aperture or trough F into reservoirs set to receive them, said paddles emptying basin 0, and continually making room for new skims from the kettles. The juice in the kettle being cleaned by means of iron rods 9 g, passing under frame A, iron rod j, and a rope and block conveniently arranged, the hook X X being loosened, the skimming-maching may be raised, (see Plat-c IL) so as to clear the kettle, permitting to. empty, wash, and refill it. This done, the skimming-machine is lowered, the frame resting on beams, the hooks X X fastened, the operation is similarly performed.

Any set of sugar-kettles, with no alteration whatever, will admit the use of my crank skimming-machine.

The skimmer used actually for skimming cane-juice-in the manufacturing of sugar is necessarily provided with a long handle, and in consequence its use is excessively fatiguing. One is forced with this skimmer to make continually a raising motion, and this adds to the fatigue a real loss of time. Again, this skimmer is perforated by a number of holes through which the skims escaping fall back into the kettle, and carrying with them to the bottom those skims which had already floated to the surface, and which of course cannot be retaken by the skimmer.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The above-described crank skimmingmachine, consisting in three essential parts: a frame A, a pushing and drawing screw, B, and a movable basin, 0, at end of boX D, sliding in frame A, said box D having in its interior a system of paddles, by which machine the cane-juice contained in the last kettle of a set of sugar-kettles may be skimmed clean in an easy, prompt, and efficacious manner.

T. MOLINIER.

WVitnesses:

RoBT. M. LUSHER, 011s. ADE ANNAS. 

